Member Movie Reviews

Chad B. (abrnt1) from CABERY, IL Reviewed on 3/29/2011...

These films annoy me.

I had high expectations for Ghoulies when it first came out. Sure it was an ultra low budget film who's sole reason for existing was too attempt to rip off Gremlins, but that isn't always a bad thing. In this case though it is. These movies r awful. Bad acting, pointless beyond belief with effects that look like children made them. Even worse the movies r boring.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Movie Reviews

"An MGM double feature, featuring the first two of four movies in the Ghoulies franchise. Ghoulies involves Johnathan Graves (Peter Liapis), a college student who inherits a family estate. When he finds black magic paraphenalia, he winds up conjruing up the title characters, as well as his long dead dad. Can he stop them? Ghoulies II involoves the operators of Satan's Den, a haunted house for a fair. When the ghoulies hitch a ride by hiding in Satan's Den, they bring big bucks to the fair, until Uncle Ned (Royal Dano) finds out they have killed a couple of the workers. Can he, his nephew Larry, and short actor Sir Nigel Pennywight (Phil Fondacaro) stop them? This also has a scene that delivers on the original's advertising campaign. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the bathroom....Both movies are low budget films by Charles Band, pre-dating Full Moon Pictures. The cats in both films do great jobs for what they are given. The direction is what you would expect for low budget films. Both films are shown in widescreen anamorphic formats, and look like they have been taken fresh from the lab. the sound on both is great sounding Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. They are standard releases from MGM, with only trailers, but the low price warrants purchase for fans of the horror genre or MST3K.GHOULIES
(1985, PG-13)Johnathan Graves: Peter Liapis
Rebecca: Lisa Pelikan
Malcom Graves: Michael Des Barres
Wolfgang: Jack Nance
Grizzel: Peter Risch
Greedigut: Tamara De TreauxDirector: Luca Bercovici
Writers: Luca Bercovici, Jefery LevyMOVIE: 3
VIDEO: 5
AUDIO: 5
EXTRAS: 2
MENUS: 3
OVERALL: 4GHOULIES II
(1987, PG-13)Larry: Damon Martin
Uncle Ned: Royal Dano
Sir Nigel Pennywight: Phil Fondacaro
P. Hardin: J. Downing
Nicole: Kerry Remsen
Dixie: Dale WyattDirector: Albert Band
Writers: Charlie Dolan, Dennis PaoliMOVIE: 4
VIDEO: 5
AUDIO: 5
EXTRAS: 2
MENUS: 3
OVERALL: 4
DISC OVERALL: 4"

Finally Released on DVD

Shane C. Hage | New Jersey, USA | 01/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I give this movie a 5-star rating not because it was scary but because it is one of those cheesy-1980's films that you just have to watch.

To summarize the plot: Evil Satanic Sorcerer fails to sacrifice his own son to Lucifer so kills the mother instead by ripping her heart out and banishing the child. The Sorcerer dies a "horrible death" and somehow the son, Jonathan, learns that he has inherited the house.

Jonathan and his girlfriend, Rebecca, are both still in college. Jonathan drops out for a semester to fix up the house. In truth, he gets really obsessed with the black magick ritual books that he finds and decides to try them out. His eyes turn green, he calls up the ghoulies, a few subservient dwarfs, and even gets Rebecca to come back after she left him because of the black magick rituals.

Jonathan gets power hungry and performs a master ritual which accidentally raises his dad back to life. Incidentally, the evil sorcerer was buried in the yard.

Evil Sorcerer Dad kills all of Jonathan's friends and takes control of the ghoulies.

The Evil Sorcerer vows to take Jonathan's life but then the big twist!

You'll just have to buy this one to see the ending now, right?"

Another excellent MGM Double Feature DVD!

K. Cannon | USA | 08/27/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"MGM has done an admirable job for this new Double Feature DVD. It contains both Ghoulies and Ghoulies 2, both presented in Animorphic Widescreen with their original theatrical trailers. The picture and sound are as good as we're ever going to see these two films on DVD. A great value, even if you only wish to buy it for one of the movies.GHOULIES was an early release from Charles Band and Empire Pictures, predating the later Full Moon Pictures. The budget was fairly low for the mid-1980's, but it is still an enjoyable late-night film.GHOULIES 2 was the sequel and probably had a little larger budget. It featured more talented actors (Royal Dano, Phil Fondacaro, Starr Andreeff, Sasha Jenson) and the Ghoulies are a little more animate than in the original movie. On a whole it is better than the original in many ways.There were two more later sequels (Parts 3 & 4) to the Ghoulies franchise...maybe they will also come to DVD someday soon."

How could we not watch the film that inspired Hobgoblins?

Sid the Elf | North Pole | 10/14/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"With Octoberfest horror film number 14 it was about time to go with a nice creature feature. Having such a huge variety of b creature flicks to choose from we decided to go with somewhat of a cult classic known as Ghoulies from 1985. Really combining many essentials like killer hand puppets, horrible 80's actors, and a couple of dwarfs (considered elves to us of course)is what gave it the green light. Not to mention we believe this had to be the inspiration for the creation of Hobgoblins four years later. So due to this thought we will be taking a different approach with this review by awarding one of these two films king of the killer puppet b.

Ghoulies starts off with Jonathan (who looks like a b Eric Roberts if that's possible) and his lady Rebeca who are college kids. When Jonathan inherits his deceased sorcerer fathers house he takes the semester off to fix it up. Only he finds some black magic books and becomes obsessed with the blacks arts. Long story short, he throws a sweet 80's party and plays a little game with his good time buddies bringing the ghoulies and a couple elf servants out from their dark depths. The rest is filled with b hand puppet action and his father coming back from the dead to take care of biz. Naturally despite the evil Dad's powers, Johnathan and his buddies somehow manage to get through the ordeal to never to be heard from again amongst the film community.

As far as ghoulies goes it was about what we were expecting. Very entertaining especially from the overwhelming 80's vibe going on. There were a handful of dull parts but was pretty fun with moments of boozing, reefer smoking, great possessed green eye effects, elf servants, AC Slater like sunglasses with windshield wiper blades, and very cheap creature action. For anyone to bash it is somewhat ridiculous for the sheer fact of the films basis. You should know what you're gonna get just from the description and cover. Now for who will reign supreme is a tough question. See Hobgoblins is a Sid favorite, but only the MST3K version. If that version goes up against Ghoulies it wins hands down. But to be fair and just take the original films themselves Ghoulies wins hands down for killer puppet b. It was a close race, but the elves gave it the edge. How could it not?

"

Where Is Ghoulies 3?

John D. Pride | Atlanta, GA USA | 04/24/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Where is Ghoulies 3, the best of the series? They released 1, 2 & 4 but no 3!!"